In an interview with Sputnik, Russian political analyst Vladimir Zorin said that the European Union is tired of the political limbo in Ukraine and expects Kiev to take political action in exchange for Brussels granting Ukrainian citizens a 90-day visa-free travel.

On Thursday, the EU Council approved the liberalization of the visa regime with Ukraine, allowing those who travel "for business, tourist or family purposes" to enter and stay in the European Union for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa.

The regulation, applying to the Schengen area and excluding Ireland and the United Kingdom, allows Ukrainian citizens to travel to the EU for business, tourist or family purposes with a biometric passport.

#EU members endorse visa-free travel for #Ukraine. Euro Council & Euro Parliament expected to approve on May 17. To take effect June 11.

He said that visa-free travel cannot be seen as a unique opportunity for Ukrainians because some important restrictions are still in place.

"On the one hand, it is a gesture of support for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who is currently in hot water. On the other, one should understand that this decision stipulates Kiev sticking to a spate of conditions and that everything may finally be suspended. The door is ajar rather than open, and it can be closed at any moment," Zorin said.

He described the EU's decision as "a sort of message to America and its President Donald Trump who is currently trying to hammer out a policy on Ukraine."

"The EU is waiting for Kiev to do something in exchange for the visa-free travel. Brussels is tired of the current political and economic limbo in Ukraine, and the EU needs neither a frozen nor simmering conflict there, not to mention an open one," Zorin added.

He also said that the EU has "different approaches to this problem" and that "a certain consensus has now been reached."

"But I do not think that it is aimed at protecting the population of Ukraine's southeast. Rather, the EU wants to resolve a number of pragmatic tasks," he concluded.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov said that the EU's latest decision to grant Ukrainian citizens a 90-day visa-free travel is a "carrot on a string" that does little in the way of easing the current system.

He pointed out that the restriction on the duration of stay remained and that the new regulations had "nothing to do with work authorization."

"We understand that the so-called visa-free regime with Ukraine is to some extent a carrot on a string that slightly eases the existing system," Meshkov said at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow on Thursday.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.